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Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'
Songbirds: From the author of the international bestseller The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
7 reviews
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.25
Finished reading: July 28th 2024
"Children search in our eyes to discover the world. When they see happiness or joy or love there, then they know that these things exist."
I really enjoyed The Beekeeper Of Aleppo back when I read it in 2021, and after I saw Nicki mention Songbirds I decided to add it to my 20 Books Of Summer TBR. I loved the sound of the Cyprus setting and the disappearance of the maid had me intrigued... The resulting story didn't quite hit the mark like my first experience with her work though. Songbirds is by no means a bad read and I can see why others love it, but there were a couple things that prevented me from fully enjoying it. I did love the many descriptions of the setting; it really made the island come alive and made me wish I could visit myself. The story also briefly travels to Sri Lanka in the form of Nisha's memories, which was a bonus... I also liked how the story shines a light on the issues foreigners have to deal with, and how the story of the missing maids was based on facts. BUT. The story also had a considerably slow pace and nothing much was happening to solve Nisha's disappearance for most of the book. I felt a bit disappointed that instead there was a LOT of focus on the songbird poaching including detailed descriptions of the animal cruelty involved. The scenes at the red lake with the hare were likewise a distraction and not exactly pleasant to read... Especially since it seemingly has nothing to do with the plot. I liked the dual POV, switching between Petra and Yiannis to help learn more about Nisha. Nisha's diary likewise gave some insight... But the fact that neither makes much effort to find Nisha makes you wonder if they really cared about her after all. The ending was both rushed and lackluster, and it felt more like an afterthought rather than a satisfying conclusion to Nisha's disappearance. If you want to try one of her books, I would definitely suggest picking up The Beekeeper Of Aleppo first.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
isobel_laura's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War
meganemily93's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, and Xenophobia
Minor: Deportation
sarah_eggleton's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Beautifully and vividly written, very strong symbolism to paint an important picture
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, and Murder
Minor: Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War
coltons1996's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Racism, and Xenophobia
onmalsshelf's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Apparently it seems that I'm leaning towards hard-hitting literary fiction in Q4 2021 and I'm okay with that.
This is the first time in a long time that I've grabbed a piece of paper to start writing thoughts down only 20% into it.
<i>Songbirds</i> is heartbreaking and evocative and I know I'll be thinking about this one for a long time. As someone who hasn't read either of Christy Lefteri's previous works, I'm glad I picked this one up first.
Somehow, Lefteri managed to craft an astounding story inspired by real events in Cyprus surrounding how foreign domestic workers are treated in Cyprus by the middle class families they are employed by and by the police.
Nisha is a domestic worker from Sri Lanka that has been working for Petra for 9 years when she suddenly goes missing on a Sunday night. We then follow her employer Petra and her lover Yannis on their journey to attempt to get justice for her in a country that has no love for foreign workers.
I found myself hooked from the start and was overall satisfied with the ending that seemed tied up to me. Make no mistake, like me you may be incredibly infuriated with Nisha's employer at the beginning of the book, but unlike one other person in this story (Mrs Kostas), Petra does end up having some character development and ends up seeing Nisha as an actual person instead of just a "Shadow of myself". Shocking that your domestic worker will have life outside of caring for your daughter Petra, so shocking.
Personally, I am wondering if there is symbolism between the songbirds and the foreign domestic workers. As in in Cyprus, they both seem to be 'delicacies' that only the middle class and up can afford, but they don't care enough to take care of them properly to keep them safe.
What is keeping me from rating it five stars is the pacing between the two POVs as well as the lack of plot movement surrounding Nisha herself. I just wanted the pacing to be a little quicker in Yannis'. I also had an issue with some dialogue being repeated when Petra was having a flashback multiple times on a bus ride.
I think that this would make a great book for a book club because just by looking at the DNFs, the one start ratings, and the two ratings, it may lead to a great discussion.
On the topic of DNFing, if you do decide to pick this one up but decide that it is not for you, please at least consider flipping to the author's note at the end.
I highly recommend this, but please be aware of the following trigger warnings (one of which I haven't seen anyone else mention in their reviews because everyone seems to be focused on the song birds):
This is the first time in a long time that I've grabbed a piece of paper to start writing thoughts down only 20% into it.
<i>Songbirds</i> is heartbreaking and evocative and I know I'll be thinking about this one for a long time. As someone who hasn't read either of Christy Lefteri's previous works, I'm glad I picked this one up first.
Somehow, Lefteri managed to craft an astounding story inspired by real events in Cyprus surrounding how foreign domestic workers are treated in Cyprus by the middle class families they are employed by and by the police.
Nisha is a domestic worker from Sri Lanka that has been working for Petra for 9 years when she suddenly goes missing on a Sunday night. We then follow her employer Petra and her lover Yannis on their journey to attempt to get justice for her in a country that has no love for foreign workers.
I found myself hooked from the start and was overall satisfied with the ending that seemed tied up to me. Make no mistake, like me you may be incredibly infuriated with Nisha's employer at the beginning of the book, but unlike one other person in this story (Mrs Kostas), Petra does end up having some character development and ends up seeing Nisha as an actual person instead of just a "Shadow of myself". Shocking that your domestic worker will have life outside of caring for your daughter Petra, so shocking.
Personally, I am wondering if there is symbolism between the songbirds and the foreign domestic workers. As in in Cyprus, they both seem to be 'delicacies' that only the middle class and up can afford, but they don't care enough to take care of them properly to keep them safe.
What is keeping me from rating it five stars is the pacing between the two POVs as well as the lack of plot movement surrounding Nisha herself. I just wanted the pacing to be a little quicker in Yannis'. I also had an issue with some dialogue being repeated when Petra was having a flashback multiple times on a bus ride.
I think that this would make a great book for a book club because just by looking at the DNFs, the one start ratings, and the two ratings, it may lead to a great discussion.
On the topic of DNFing, if you do decide to pick this one up but decide that it is not for you, please at least consider flipping to the author's note at the end.
I highly recommend this, but please be aware of the following trigger warnings (one of which I haven't seen anyone else mention in their reviews because everyone seems to be focused on the song birds):
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Miscarriage, and Xenophobia
deedireads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
I liked Songbirds, although The Beekeeper of Aleppo is still my favorite of Lefteri’s. Still, I think this book does good things and will appeal to lots of different types of readers.
For you if: You want fast-paced contemporary fiction with beautiful sentences and a substantive topic.
FULL REVIEW:
First, thank you to Ballantine for the digital review copy of this book!
I jumped at the chance to read this one after loving Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo, which won the 2020 Aspen Words literary prize. While I still think Beekeeper is my favorite of the two, Songbirds was a moving, well-written novel with good characters and plenty of momentum.
Inspired by true events, Songbirds takes place in Cyprus and starts when a Sri Lankan domestic worker named Nisha disappears. The novel is told in alternating points of view between Yiannis, her boyfriend, who is also trying to extricate himself from an underground poaching operation; and Petra, her employer, a single mother who takes it upon herself to search for Nisha (and begins to peel back a fog of grief and layers of her privilege as she does).
So on the one hand, this book is a tender depiction of the erasure and strife of immigrant domestic workers in this part of the world; on the other, it’s a mystery: what happened to Nisha? I think a lot of different types of readers will like it. Petra’s journey uncovering her own prejudice occasionally feels elementary, but I appreciated the way it intersected with her grief as a widow and her resulting struggle as a mother. I also wanted to shake Yiannis, but despite his weakness he does have an inherently good heart. Lefteri’s sentences are really beautiful, and the audiobook (which features two voice actors for our two narrators) was well done.
I think this book could be a good gateway novel if you’re looking to move from mystery/thriller genre fiction into a more contemporary fiction space, or it could be a good quick read with teeth if you spend most of your time in literary fiction. I’m glad I read it.
TL;DR REVIEW:
I liked Songbirds, although The Beekeeper of Aleppo is still my favorite of Lefteri’s. Still, I think this book does good things and will appeal to lots of different types of readers.
For you if: You want fast-paced contemporary fiction with beautiful sentences and a substantive topic.
FULL REVIEW:
First, thank you to Ballantine for the digital review copy of this book!
I jumped at the chance to read this one after loving Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo, which won the 2020 Aspen Words literary prize. While I still think Beekeeper is my favorite of the two, Songbirds was a moving, well-written novel with good characters and plenty of momentum.
Inspired by true events, Songbirds takes place in Cyprus and starts when a Sri Lankan domestic worker named Nisha disappears. The novel is told in alternating points of view between Yiannis, her boyfriend, who is also trying to extricate himself from an underground poaching operation; and Petra, her employer, a single mother who takes it upon herself to search for Nisha (and begins to peel back a fog of grief and layers of her privilege as she does).
So on the one hand, this book is a tender depiction of the erasure and strife of immigrant domestic workers in this part of the world; on the other, it’s a mystery: what happened to Nisha? I think a lot of different types of readers will like it. Petra’s journey uncovering her own prejudice occasionally feels elementary, but I appreciated the way it intersected with her grief as a widow and her resulting struggle as a mother. I also wanted to shake Yiannis, but despite his weakness he does have an inherently good heart. Lefteri’s sentences are really beautiful, and the audiobook (which features two voice actors for our two narrators) was well done.
I think this book could be a good gateway novel if you’re looking to move from mystery/thriller genre fiction into a more contemporary fiction space, or it could be a good quick read with teeth if you spend most of your time in literary fiction. I’m glad I read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Miscarriage, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Kidnapping
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